Down Here On The Ground

Norman Franklin is an ordained Baptist minister. Although this book is about discovering the presence of God, he does not title each chapter, or thematically relate each chapter based on a Scripture truth, or Biblical principal. Each chapter, however, emotes the entanglements of life when you won't acknowledge that God is. But He is present in the shadows. You can glance over your shoulder and see one set of footprints in the sand. He carries you. The reality of prejudices, racism, systemic racism validates the much-maligned Critical Race Theory; CRT is threaded, weaved into the experiences, the encounters of Norm throughout his journey. It cannot be denied. The resilience of the wounded, the rational, critical thinking is the constant that is the will to keep getting up to engage today's battles. But when logic no longer fuels the drive, a deafening, silent emptiness sets in. What do you do? Norm was tempted to use sports metaphors to convey the struggles of a determined will, grab some glib spiritual platitudes to frame this story; perhaps they may be relative, but they don't draw you into the raw experience that "Down Here on the Ground, God is here Somewhere" shares. Wisdom is gained through struggle. This book, "Down Here on the Ground," reveals that God is here. There are many churched, and unchurched striving to find hope, understanding, reasons to engage, the purpose of life's journey. It is more than to survive. We are stretching to know the Invisible God. It is Him, the true God we must know; not the God, not the Savior that America has presented to us. The true God is here somewhere.